1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vibration damping mechanism, more particularly to a vibration damping mechanism for mounting of a hard disk thereon and capable of providing the hard disk with good heat dissipating and vibration damping functionalities, and to an electronic device having the vibration damping mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
A hard disk is a dynamic component in a computer system, and is relatively sensitive to heat and vibrations. If problems associated with heat dissipation of the hard disk and effects of vibration of a computer housing that is subjected to an external force on the hard disk cannot be effectively solved, the computer system may crash or hang. Generally, there are several ways of effecting heat dissipation for a hard disk.
With reference to FIG. 1, a computer 1 includes a frame 11, a housing 12 for covering the frame 11, and a hard disk 13. The hard disk 13 is fastened to a bottom face of an upper frame panel 111 of the frame 11 by screws, and has a bottom face to which a heat sink 14 is attached. The arrangement of the heat sink 14 enhances heat dissipation of the hard disk 13. However, heat dissipated from the hard disk 13 by the heat sink 14 still remains in the interior of the computer 1, so that the heat dissipating effect is unsatisfactory. In addition, since no vibration damping mechanism is provided between the hard disk 13 and the frame 11, when the housing 12 is subjected to an external impact, the hard disk 13 may crash due to the effect of vibration, or the heat sink 14 may separate from the hard disk 13 due to the vibration.
With reference to FIG. 2, another approach of dissipating the heat of the hard disk 13 in a computer 10 is to dispose a thermal pad 16 between a securing seat 151 of a frame 15 and the hard disk 13. The thermal pad 16 transfers the heat generated by the hard disk 13 to the securing seat 151 of the frame 15 and a housing 17 of the computer 10 to thereby achieve heat dissipation. However, since such an arrangement requires the hard disk 13 to be tightly attached to the thermal pad 16, it is not possible to dispose a vibration damping mechanism between the hard disk 13 and the frame 15.
With reference to FIG. 3, a further approach of effecting heat dissipation is to have fans 18 fastened onto the hard disk 13, so that the fans 18 can disperse the heat generated by the hard disk 13. However, mounting of the fans 18 on the hard disk 13 increases the overall thickness so that the assembly of the hard disk 13 and the fans 18 is not suitable for installation in a miniaturized computer. In addition, such use of the fans 18 for heat dissipation is not applicable to fanless personal computers. Furthermore, since there is no arrangement of a vibration damping mechanism, when the hard disk 13 vibrates, operation of the fans 18 may result in uneven torque, which may amplify the vibration of the hard disk 13.
On the other hand, there are the following various vibration damping arrangements for hard disks:
With reference to FIG. 4, a securing seat 212 is provided on a bottom face of an upper frame panel 211 of a frame 21 of a computer 2. A hard disk 22 is disposed between two side plates 213 of the securing seat 212. Each of the side plates 213 is provided with two retaining holes 214, and two cushioning members 215 respectively retained in the retaining holes 214. By fastening the cushioning members 215 respectively onto the hard disk 22 using a plurality of screws 216, the cushioning members 215 can be coupled to the hard disk 22. Although the use of the cushioning members 215 to suspend the hard disk 22 may reduce the vibration transmitted to the hard disk 22 from the frame 21, the hard disk 22 is not in direct contact with the securing seat 212 of the frame 21, so that the heat generated by the hard disk 22 is dissipated merely through convection with air inside the computer 2. Consequently, the heat dissipation of the hard disk 22 is unsatisfactory.
In a vibration damping device of a notebook computer module disclosed in R.O.C. Patent Publication No. 437980 (Application No. 088209440), a spring is disposed between a mounting surface of a hard disk and a support frame, and another spring is disposed between an end of a securing sleeve and the support frame such that the two springs can provide a damping or cushioning force to protect the hard disk when the notebook computer module is vibrated. However, such a vibration damping device does not provide a heat dissipating mechanism for the hard disk.
Since the prior art fails to address both heat dissipation and vibration damping concerns associated with hard disks, how to conceive an arrangement of heat dissipation and vibration damping for a hard disk of an electronic device is a subject of endeavor in the industry.